Lawmakers are jockeying for the top GOP spot on the House Judiciary Committee, which will be ground zero for Democratic attacks on the president.

The audition to become President Donald Trump’s most visible defender in Congress — and lead the fight against any impeachment proceedings — is in full swing.

One of Trump’s fiercest allies, Rep. Jim Jordan, on Friday began flirting openly with a bid to serve as the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, the panel where a flood of Democratic-led investigations, and potential impeachment, will begin.

“We said that we would fight until the last vote is counted. We wanted to make sure that every single vote ― including those that were overvotes, undervotes ― as long as those were legally cast, we wanted those votes to be counted,” Gillum began.

“And now that we are rounding that process out, R. Jai and I wanted to take a moment to congratulate Mr. DeSantis for becoming the next governor of the great state of Florida,” he said.

Washington (CNN)House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi continues to project confidence that she will be elected speaker of the US House of Representatives when the new Democratic-led Congress starts in January — but she faces a potential challenger in Rep. Marcia Fudge.

Fudge, an Ohio Democrat, has publicly said she is considering jumping into the race for speaker, though she has yet to announce a final decision. She has represented Ohio’s 11th Congressional District since 2008 and is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, a group of progressive Democrats in the House, and a member and former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, an influential voting bloc in the lower chamber.

Washington (CNN)Justice Sonia Sotomayor in an interview with CNN’s David Axelrod said that Justice Brett Kavanaugh was welcomed into the Supreme Court “family” in the wake of his polarizing confirmation process.

“When you’re charged with working together for most of the remainder of your life, you have to create a relationship,” Sotomayor said in an “Axe Files” interview airing Saturday.

In an interview with CNN on Tuesday night, Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes contradicted her attorney in denying that her department had included invalid ballots in vote totals sent to the state.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday defended the legality of President Donald Trump’s appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general after critics called the move unlawful, asserting that he has the authority to replace the fired Jeff Sessions outside of the department’s usual line of succession.

The divergent approaches of the two Republicans gives a glimpse into the new political roles they’re likely to fill in January.

As their victory margins shrank, Florida Republicans Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis took starkly different approaches to the coming recounts now unfolding in their races.

Scott, the outgoing governor and U.S. Senate candidate, has issued a string of baseless accusations that incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson wants to “steal the election.” He urged state police to investigate the possibility of “rampant voter fraud,” for which he provided no evidence and for which no proof has been found by authorities, including a judge who said Monday that both sides should “ramp down the rhetoric.”

Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema has defeated Republican Rep. Martha McSally in the battle for the open Senate seat in Arizona, giving Democrats their second Senate pickup of the cycle.

Sinema had 49.7 percent of the vote to McSally’s 48 percent when The Associated Press called the race Monday evening. Though McSally led narrowly on Election Night, Sinema took the lead in the race two days later and continued to pad her edge as the state counted outstanding votes through the weekend and Monday.